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Across Oceans: Brazilís Ongoing Struggle

Hello! Welcome to my first Victoria 2 AAR. This is a continuation of a short AAR I started in EU3. I played a hands-off game until 1750 at which point I took over Brazil when they had a colonial revolution. That AAR had to be cut short, but with a lot of support for continuing to V2 I have decided to continue Brazil’s story here.

Notes:
-I don't have much experience with V2, so this isn't going to be a perfect game where I take over the world. I hope to learn much about the game in the process though.
-There will be a lot of RP justification for what I do, and I won't make decisions that are optimal all the time.
-As it was requested, the save can be downloaded here. Be warned that this has only be tested with vanilla V2 1.3 and 1.4, and does not included anything that I modded in.

Across Oceans: Brazil’s Ongoing StrugglePrologue:

The Aftermath of the French Revolution

In 1783, the French economy was in shambles. Having lost many of its colonies to both revolutionaries and enemies it struggled to maintain the wealth and power that it once had in Europe. It could only do this at the expense of the lower classes, which inevitably led to revolution. The monarchy was overthrown and a radical democratic government was installed. However, this was rapidly subverted by a brilliant young military commander who seized power. From 1789-1804 he rampaged across Europe and was only barely defeated by an alliance of Britain, Bohemia, the Two Sicilies and a German coalition.

Following his defeat, the monarchs of Europe clamped down hard on revolutionary sentiment but refrained from punishing France too harshly. While their remaining colonies were stripped away bar a few in the Americas, they were allowed to keep their conquests in Zaragoza and Brittany. This did not please the Muslims of Spain (formerly Granada) and Portugal (Badajoz), but they had little say in negotiations.

The HRE had survived the war only with the help of Bohemia, and once a monarch was restored to France it once again became the playground of the Great Powers. With France, Bohemia and Scandinavia working together no single nation was able to dominate in Germany. Prussia, Lubeck (Hansa), Nassau (Hesse), Bavaria and Switzerland battled one another with no nation gaining the upper hand.

In the Mediterranean, the Two Sicilies spent the majority of the beginning of the 19th Century consolidating their power over the seas and struggling with Switzerland for dominance of Northern Italy. Meanwhile the Ottomans were slowly retaking their territory in the Levant and Persia remained strong despite repeated border wars with Bohemia. Of note is the sole democracy in Europe, the island nation of Rhodes.

Reactionary sentiment remains strong in Europe, but the brutal crushing of the French Revolution has only driven the proponents of democracy underground.

The Abundance of Asia

With Europe focused on itself for so long, large regions of Asia remained untouched by European influence. However as the 19th Century progresses that is very likely to change as the Great Powers seek to expand their influence and wealth.

India remained mostly untouched as a result of the chaos in Europe. Britain seized the French colonies in the region and the Dutch maintained a number of trading bases, but besides that the entire subcontinent remained open for exploitation.

Similarly in South East Asia, only Holland and Brazil who were mostly untouched during the Revolutionary Wars had any real presence. On the mainland Britain and Sicily had some territory, but it was not particularly valuable.

Japan had profited greatly from its alliance with Brazil, while the Manchu dynasty of China was close to mopping up the remainder of the rogue states. European influence in this arena would be hard to win with the strength on show.

The New World Stands Ready

In the aftermath of the turbulent 18th Century, the nations of the New World have almost all broken free of their masters and are now beginning to join the world stage themselves.

North America is divided mostly evenly between Texas, the USA, Canada and Mexico. The USA seeks to fulfil its manifest destiny, but the fact that they gained independence from France much later than Texas managed to slip away from Holland means that they have already fallen behind in the race. Britain was attacked by an American-Texan alliance that saw it lose much of its Floridan territory, although it continues to hold on to the peninsula itself.

The Caribbean remains mostly under European control, and here France has its sole remaining colonies.

In South America, Brazil has marched into the Amazon and claimed it for its king. Although Massimilano I has long since passed away, his grandson Carlo I rules the nation with a strong hand and seeks to expand the power of the nation ever further into the world. Also of note is the Japanese base on the Peruvian/Chilean border. They hold onto this only through their alliance with Brazil.

The Heart of Africa

Africa has mostly remained untouched since the Brazilian expedition in the 18th Century. Tropical diseases have halted much of the exploitation of the continent, but new advances in technology promise to eventually see the wealth of the interior open to conquest.

Central Africa is mostly untouched, although a few Brazilian and Spanish colonies exist in the west.

Southern Africa has several large areas under control of colonial powers, including Persia. On the west coast the Congo Free State (formerly Kongo) teeters on the brink of becoming a Spanish client state.

Lots of good-sized competing power blocks should make for an interesting game. I was going to warn you that Bohemia is suscepitble to dismantling as it's sitting on German cores, but then I saw that it's gigantic.

Tanzhang: The converter often does weirdness like that. While I made sure all the civilized nations are in the right place, I didnít feel that going through the effort for dozens of uncivs like Dai Nam (formerly Pegu) and Oranje (formerly Swahili) . India alone would have been a nightmare to sort out.tamius23: Hopefully youíve started a trend I can ride on. :P Yours wasnít the first conversion AAR Iíve read but it was the first one to V2 which convinced me to try the convertor.Malurous, Mr. Santiago: Thanks!sprites: They really won out with the horde system during EU3.Dewirix: Iím hoping so as well. Once the initial wave of wars as everyone tries to take any cores left over from EU3 are over then things should get interesting.hoi2geek: Brazilian as mentioned. I never actually conquered them in EU3, but they were acquired from France as part of the in-between-games story.Selzro: Morocco may be huge, but they are an unciv so Iím concerned about their chances.

I should point out that I have not played nearly as much V2 as EU3, so this is much more of a learning experience for me and Iíll probably make a lot of mistakes. Also the game has yet to declare any official Great Powers (it lists the vanilla powers on the GP screen but elsewhere they are called secondary) so there is no sphere action right now. Does anyone else who has experience with converted games know if this will fix itself or if I need to do something about it?

Across Oceans: Brazilís Ongoing StruggleChapter One: Stepping Out Again

King Carlo I had seen how liberal economics had brought industry to the lands of Europe and was eager to follow them. The Partido Liberal was given special place as his advisors, even though it included many political reformers who sought a more egalitarian government.

Meanwhile across the nation philosophers studied and pondered. Brazil had been at peace since the Revolutionary Wars almost thirty years earlier and so many people had turned their thoughts to more romantic pursuits rather than the martial fields.

In the capital, Nuovo Lazio, the king set up programs to seek entrepreneurs to begin the expansion of the economy. (Minor note on names: Brazil in this timeline was founded mostly by Italians but obviously the change in province names didnít carry over. Iíll try to use the Italian names when I can, but Iíll provide a picture to show where I mean.)

However, the focus on the economy came around to bite him very quickly. Behind his back, his advisors had been working to persuade the rest of the court to establish a proper parliament. Facing immense political pressure, he had to agree to set up an upper house comprised of valuable members of the nobles classes.

Meanwhile, the nation had been collecting allies from around the world. Aside from the old alliance with Japan, the USCA and Chile had agreed to sign treaties of mutual defence. Most important of these was an alliance with the East European giant Bohemia. With this Brazil had an incredibly powerful ally in the Old World in case they came into conflict in the region once again. Bohemia and Brazil had long been friends, with Bohemia financing Brazil's wars with France and others. This just made that friendship official.

With the start of 1837 the new Upper House was put into place. It predictably led to the liberals losing out big as their conservative and reactionary rivals gained power alongside them.

After years of peace, the world was entering a new age of war. In North America the fragile peace between America and Texas over the territories conquered from Britain finally broke down and led to America declaring war on the Texan-Canadian alliance. In Africa Spain began its subjugation of the Congo, while other smaller wars started breaking out across the world.

Carlo I did not want to be left out. Sokoto (formerly Mali) had been left alone for too long and was starting to eye its old territories. The time had come to further cut them down to size.

The Army of Paraguay had been shipped to Africa to invade the isolated coastal regions of Sokoto, while the main army marched towards the capital itself.

However that plan had to be changed as the enemy ignored the invasion and marched straight across Brazilian territory to relieve the coastal regions. They were intercepted and the main Sokot army was wiped out. With that out of the way the occupation could return to the capital to take it and force a peace treaty.

Brazilian colonial occupation had been fairly brutal in places, and it led to uprisings by the natives. These were dispersed as carefully as possible, as the army could not afford to send troops that were facing rallied Sokot forces around their capital.

With increasing colonial tensions pressure mounted to end the war quickly and so peace was agreed for two thirds of Sokotoís remaining coastal territory. It was not a total victory but it was pleasing enough for the king, and it sent out a message that Brazil was once again playing on the world stage.

Also the game has yet to declare any official Great Powers (it lists the vanilla powers on the GP screen but elsewhere they are called secondary) so there is no sphere action right now. Does anyone else who has experience with converted games know if this will fix itself or if I need to do something about it?

That's an awfully well-balanced upper house you've got there. Did you make any use of your 100% Liberal UH at the start to pass any reforms? It might be a while before you get the chance again, especially as far as social reforms are concerned.

Your original EU3 AAR for this game was a good read and so far this one is proving to be so as well; consider me subscribed! A very interesting world you have following the conversion, hopefully you can remain on Bohemia's good side throughout the game! I like your first moves, strengthening your position in Africa will allow for easier colonisation there in the future.

Malurous: I just hope the V2 AI is good at placing troops so their whole massive army isnít in Siberia while thereís a war on in Europe.tamius23: Thanks. The problem is resolved now.Aliasing: I wasnít able to use PDM as it was crashing without any hint as to why. If you have any tips that would let me use it they would be appreciated.Tanzhang: Prestige. I donít know much about V2, but I do know prestige tech rushing is a good way to become a GP.Dewirix: I think all pops are balanced between conservative/reactionary/liberal at the start of a converted save which is why it ended up so balanced. I should really have taken advantage of the liberal upper houseÖlive and learn I guess.morningSIDEr: Thanks.

Across Oceans: Brazilís Ongoing StruggleChapter Two: Change of Plan

The Great Powers had finally been assembled. Naturally, France, Bohemia and the Two Sicilies stood at the top. Most of the remainder were German states who had gained great influence through their expansion of industry despite their lack of territory. The fact that Brazil has not kept up in this field was the biggest reason that they had fallen back into the ranks of the minor powers. This news angered the king greatly and he began to put more pressure on the capitalists to get to work, as they had failed to open even a single factory on Brazilian soil.

Meanwhile the many of the initial wars were reaching their conclusions. Spain seized more land from Congo, while the many German states concluded their wars with the more powerful generally emerging on top.

Brazilís continued focus on keeping up with the Great Powers was causing it to focus less attention on the colonies. Incidents such as the death of children were overlooked, increasing tensions in the regions.

1839 began with minor liberal gains in the Upper House. The tendency of the population appeared to be slowly drifting, but they lacked the pressure to secure any more political concessions from the king.

War between the Great Powers finally occurred as Switzerland was attacked by both the French and Sicilians. The French sought to regain land lost in earlier wars, while the Sicilians had their eyes on a unified Italy. Already that had placed Modena into their sphere of influence.

By taking the forefront of the Romantic Movement, Brazil was starting to regain some prestige in the eyes of the civilised world for the quality of art coming from it. (I donít know how I only got 6.6 prestige on this one when I managed to get the full 20 for another Romanticist one, which I missed screenshotting.)

Russia was beginning to emerge from the shadow of Bohemia, winning a war against its only other neighbours Finland and Prussia. There was already talk of them emerging as another Great Power.

The situation in the colonies was reaching boiling point, but the Africa Expedition was still more than capable of crushing any attempt at revolt. For now there was little chance of a successful rebellion.

Bohemia had been busy as well. They had not seen fit to bring Brazil into a minor border war along their massive border with China, but they had emerged successful nonetheless as most of the Chinese forces were busy putting down the southern warlords.

In the capital the construction efforts on a paper mill, the only factory construction in the nation, were still halted despite the investment of over one thousand capitalists. Carlo I was furious, and began to pressure the Upper House to do something about it.

They were willing to have the government finance the construction of basic railroads around the capital region. The Liberal Party assured the king that this would stimulate the economy enough to get proper industrialisation moving.

Meanwhile in Europe, France defeated Switzerland and seized a good portion of the border. And as expected Russia joined the ranks of the Great Powers and Prussia and Finland were being pushed back.

Finally the king had had enough. The failures of Liberal economic policies in an unindustrialized nation were obvious. He removed the party from power and placed the reactionary Partido Caramuru in power. They were able to rescind some of the policies that kept the hands of the state out of factory construction.

It wasnít long before government funded basic goods factories began to go up along the Brazilian east coast. Although they lacked skilled craftsman, incentives were set up to encourage workers to migrate into the cities and join the workforce in these industries.

The past two years had seen much change to the layout of the Great Powers. Despite its defeat Switzerland had held on thanks to its heavy industrialization while most of the other German powers had been removed from their positions. In their place both Russia and Hungary had ascended while Austria just about held on. Brazil was slowly climbing in that direction as well, and hopefully with the change of direction in industrialization that would accelerate further. The future was starting to look bright.

Tell me Sybot, did you ever play as Brasil in the original Vicky? Prestige rushing was a prime strategy as Brasil in that game. I was so fond of that strategy I tried to replicate it in my third ever Vicky 2 game; suffice to say It didn't work out. I don't know how the conversion has effected your chances though, so good luck and I hope it pays off for you.

PS. The amount of prestige you get for culture inventions depends on how many other nations have triggered it.